Microsoft's $5 million fund for rewarding informants for leads on virus attacks has snagged its first success with the arrest of a man in Germany who has confessed to the release of the Sasser worm, the software giant said Saturday.

YIPIIEEEEE, now maybe the rest of these people who know someone that created one of these, will come forth, and start a trend for getting these basterds!!!

I don't think they'll hand over the $5 million easily either. They'll probably try to negotiate a deal instead. They only offered Mike Rowe $20 for his registered site name of MikeRoweSoft.com. After much wheeling and dealing I think he only got a free Xbox game console out of the deal. I hope I'm wrong.

Microsoft Reward Program Plays Role in Arrest
On Saturday, Microsoft verified that its antivirus reward program,
through which the company has pledged $5 million in reward money for
information leading to the capture and conviction of electronic
attackers, played a role in the capture of the Sasser worm's alleged
author. The attacker created all four variants of the worm, which
afflicted millions of computers last week. Microsoft commended law
enforcement officers in Rotenburg, Germany, for the capture of the
accused attacker, an 18-year-old teenager who allegedly also created
the Netsky worm.
"As this case demonstrates, we will move quickly to support law
enforcement worldwide to identify and hold responsible those who break
the law by launching viruses and worms targeted at our customers,"
Microsoft Senior Vice President and General Counsel Brad Smith said.
"The information leading to this arrest resulted in part from
Microsoft's antivirus reward program, as well as new technical and
investigative techniques we have developed during the past year to
address precisely this type of situation."
The suspect was arrested just a week after the worm's first
appearance, bringing the episode to a conclusion far faster than
is the case in most electronic outbreaks. The investigation came
together in just a few days, starting Wednesday, when people close
to the teenager alerted Microsoft to his identity. The unidentified
individuals (Microsoft says they number in the single digits) will
split a $250,000 reward if the alleged perpetrator is convicted.
Microsoft also offered that amount of money for the authors of the
MSBlaster worm, SoBig virus, and MyDoom virus, although no arrests
were made in any of those cases.
Smith says that the people who turned in the suspect knew him
personally. German police arrested the alleged worm author 2 days
after Microsoft first learned his identity. The German authorities are
also investigating the teenager for authoring the Netsky worm and
its 28 variants, which were launched in February 2004._________________RFID tags! SPYWARE
Tired of proprietary Cor-pirationware?
http://www.openoffice.org/
Installing Vista http://tinyurl.com/2l9qyd